El Paso County, Texas: drinking water report. El Paso County sits at the western tip of Texas, home to about 870,000 residents in one of the driest metro…
El Paso County sits at the western tip of Texas, home to about 870,000 residents in one of the driest metro areas in the country. El Paso Water draws from the Rio Grande, the Hueco Bolson aquifer, and the Mesilla Bolson aquifer. The utility has become a national leader in water reuse, operating the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant – the largest inland desalination facility in the world – which treats brackish groundwater that was previously unusable.
El Paso's water story is one of scarcity driving innovation. The Hueco Bolson aquifer has been overdrawn for decades, and saltwater intrusion has degraded water quality in portions of the aquifer. The desalination plant, which can produce 27.5 million gallons per day, treats this degraded groundwater into drinking-quality water.
UCMR5 data shows PFAS detections in the El Paso Water system. Fort Bliss, one of the largest military installations in the country, has documented AFFF use and PFAS contamination in surrounding groundwater. According to the TCEQ's 2024 monitoring data, PFAS levels in the municipal system were below federal action thresholds, but ongoing military remediation at Fort Bliss continues.
El Paso Water's desalination and advanced treatment infrastructure provides a level of contaminant removal that many conventional systems cannot match. But neighborhoods near Fort Bliss may face elevated PFAS through private wells or localized groundwater.
Check your water for data specific to your area. Our water filter guide covers options for both PFAS and the mineral content common in desert water. Pull your detailed report, and see our Texas page for statewide context.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover El Paso County, TX.
The EPA places El Paso County, TX in Zone 3 - the EPA's lowest-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level below 2 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
40% of homes in El Paso County, TX were built before 1980, and 7% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in El Paso County, TX averages 7.3 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
14 public water systems serving El Paso County, TX have EPA lead testing on record. The reported lead sample skews toward systems that already flagged a problem, so its exceedance rate is not directly comparable with other areas. 5 water systems serving El Paso County, TX carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 2 |
| Ground Water Rule | 2 |
| Arsenic | 2 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.